Wheel attachment for children&#39;s high chairs.



No. 69!,532. Patented lan. 2|, I902. I. M. CLARK.

WHEEL ATTACHMENT FOB CHILDREN'S HIGH CHAIRS.

(Applicatipn filed May 8. 1901 (No Model.)

ATTOHN Y5 UNITED STATES ATENT UFFICE.

ISAAC MONTGOMERY CLARK, OF LOMPOO, CALIFORNIA.

WHEEL ATTACHMENT FOR CH ILDRENS HIGH CHAIRS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,532, dated January 21, 1902.

Application filed May 8, 1901. Serial No. 59,237. (No model.)

T0 (LZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC MONTGOMERY CLARK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lompoc, in the county of Santa Barbara and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Safety-\Vheel Attachment for Childrens High Chairs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide the rear legs of a childs high chair with wheels supported upon novel clamps that are readily attachable upon the lower ends of the rear legs of the chair and when in place serve to prevent restless movements of the child in the chair from tipping it over rearwardly with possible injury to the occupant of the prostrated chair.

A further object is to afford duplicate wheeled attachments for the rear legs of a childs high chair which not only prevent the chair from being tilted rearwardly, but also afford convenient means for progressively moving the chairin any direction either while occupied or vacant, and thus facilitate the easy transfer of the chair from one locality to another.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and defined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective View showing the improvement secured upon the rear legs of a high chair. Fig. 2 is an enlarged and partlysectional side view of the improved safety attachment mounted upon and detachably secured to the lower portion of a rear leg of a high chair, and Fig. 3 is a detached plan View of the improvement.

The chair 10 may be of any preferred design which provides a high seat for accommodation of a child and has legs 10 of sufficient length for supporting the seat and which are cylindric at and near their lower ends.

The improved safety-wheel device, which in service is duplicated for connection with the two rear legs of the high chair, comprises the following details of construction.

A bracket-frame consisting mainly of a plate-metal piece which in blank form is 'substantially triangular in contour is provided, and preferably the metal blank is of resilient material.

As best shown in Fig. 3, the triangular plate-metal blank is bent midway between its ends a, as shown at b, the bend being curved so as to produce a substantially semicircular wall 11 and aiford two similar side plates 12,

spaced apart by the web or curved wall 11 and held thereby in parallel planes.

The lower edge of the bracket-frame, con structed as described, is horizontal, and the curved Web 11 is disposed at or near a right angle thereto, as indicated in Fig. 2. The ends a of the side plates 12 maybe rounded, as shown by dotted lines as to one plate in Fig. 2, and near the ends a the two side plates are transversely perforated at opposite points.

Acaster-wheel 13 is rotatably mounted upon a short journal-shaft 14, secured by its ends in the perforations formed in the ends at of the side plates 12. At a suitable point near the caster-wheel13 a stay-bar 15 is secured by its ends in opposite perforations formed in the side plates 12, which bar serves to prevent the side plates from being drawn against the hub of the caster-Wheel13 by the adjustment of a clamping-bolt 16.

As represented in the drawings, the bolt 16 passes loosely through opposite perforations in the side plates 12 at a point somewhat above the stay-bar 15, and whenin place the head thereof is in engagement with one of the side plates. A nut 17 is mounted upon the projected screw-cut end of the bolt 16 after the bolt has been'inserted through the perforations in the side plates and by its adjustment may be forcibly pressed upon the opposite side plate 12, and thus coact with the bolt to contract the space between the side plates a proper degree.

In applying the bracket-frames of the duplicate safety-wheel devices upon the rear legs 10 of the chair 10 said legs are respectively slid down through the space afforded between the curved web-wall 11 and the body of the bolt 16 on one of the bracket-frames. The extremity of the inserted leg 10 extends such a distan'cebelow the lower edge of the bracket-frame mounted thereon as will permit the leg to normally sustain the weight imposed upon it.

When the wheels 13 have been so positioned as to slightly contact with the floor whereon' the chair-legs are seated and the bracket frame on each leg is projected directly rearward, said frames may be clamped securely upon the legs by an obvious adjustment of the nuts 17 on the bolts 16, and the attached wheels will be properly disposed for efficient service.

It is a common habit for a small child of active disposition when occupying the ordinary high chair at a table or near some other stable object whereon it may push to endeavor to push the chair backward, and such an eifort usually results in the rearward tilting of the chair with probable injury to the occupant.

It will be seen that the application of the improvement upon the legs of a high chair, as shown and described, will prevent its tilting over rearwardly if the child seated therein attempts to shove the chair backward, as such efforts will throw the weight normally sustained by the rear legs of the chair upon the wheels 13, which by their free rotation will permit the chair to glide backward and away from the table whereon the childhas pushed with its hands or feet. Furthermore, as the position of the wheels 13, rearward of the rear legs of the chair, proportionally increases the supporting-base of the chair rearwardly this will add to the security of the chair against a rearward tilting movement of the same.

It is evident that the duplicate wheeled attachments that are placed on the rear legs of the high chair will afford convenient means to facilitate the transfer of the chair occupied or vacant to any point desired by simply taking hold of the chairback at its top and slightly inclining the chair rearward1y,which will throw the weight upon the wheels 13 and so elevate the front legs of the chair as to permit the chair to be pushed or drawn with ease in any direction.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An attachable wheel for a chair-leg,comprising a U shaped bracket-frame having resilient side walls, a wheel held to rotate between the ends of the bracket-frame, and a clamping-bolt adapted to compress the side walls of the bracket-frame upon a chair-leg whereon said frame is mounted.

2. An attachable wheel for a chair-1eg,comprising a bracket-frame formed of a threecornered plate-metal blank, bent intermediately to provide two spaced side walls and a curved intervening web, a caster-wheel j ournaled between the opposite sides of the bracket-frame, a transverse stay-bar having its ends secured in the sides of the bracketframe near the Wheel,and a transverse clamping-bolt having a head and nut, that respectively bear upon the side walls of the bracketframe, said nut by adj ustment being adapted to clamp the bolt-head on the bracket-frame and compress the sides of said frame against a chair-leg upon which the bracket-frame is mounted.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ISAAC MONTGOMERY CLARK.

Witnesses:

THOMAS FRANCIS Fox, GEORGE ANDREW PARKER. 

